Blog ala Vidar

Now all my servers are set up as I wanted them, running everything in AD (Active Directory) and monitoring it with SCOM (System Center Operations Manager). Well, everything in AD is a bit of an exaggeration, since MS Home Server doesn’t like this. I find it weird, but that might just be me. Anyways, after struggling for some while I removed it from the domain and things started working again 🙂

I’ve also used quite some time to try to install SCMDM (System Center Mobile Device Manager), to be able to add my phone to the domain. After installing all the prerequisites I found out it only supports installing on Windows Server 2003. This really bugs me, since it’s now almost two years since Windows Server 2008 was released, and SP1 for SCMDM was released almost a year ago, which did include support for running with AD 2008, but not running on a 2008 server!

Next, I’ve been trying to get rid of my iPod. Not as in selling it, but using my phone as podcast player. Here Microsoft really have something to learn from Apple. With iPod/iPhone you just plug your device in and it syncs with iTunes. What do you think I have to do to sync my podcasts and/or music with my computer? MANUALLY copy the files over. Yes, I said MANUALLY! Steve Ballmer said in an interview that they were planning to add Zune to Windows Mobile. I hope they soon (Zune?) can get their ass out of their ass, because iPod was first released in Q4 2001. That’s 8 years ago, and Microsoft STILL doesn’t support this. So, because they’re so slow, me and a friend of mine (Erik Skagen Vindenes) have started a little project called PodcastPlayer. It’s not only to solve my issues with syncing, but also to learn new technologies. For instance, I’ve now created my first WCF (Windows Communication Foundation) service and started understanding the great possibilities with WCF compared to normal web services. It’s also a great project to start learning Silverlight and the new features of .NET 4.0. I’ll keep you posted about the project when we’ve got something to show.

Did I mention I bought an Xbox? I’ve never been a gamer (except Transport Tycoon and Trackmania), but the Xbox really found the gamer in me. Add me to Xbox Live and I’ll kick your ass in both FIFA 10 (or FIFA 1.0 as we call it) and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2! My gamer tag is PolarSirNordnes. In addition to games Xbox is a nice media-center which automatically connected to my home server enabling me to play my movies and music directly from it. I already have a media center PC, where I’m going to test out a new MediaCenter application called XBMC MediaCenter recommended by JanCB, but till then I’ll enjoy the nice UI on the Xbox!